Say It Ain’t So, Oscar!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies, the Academy (according to Variety) has announced that next year’s Oscars will be awarded on… March 7, 2010—two weeks later than this year’s ceremony. As is, release schedules are sufficiently screwed up by the lead-up and follow-up time; it seems likely that as great a film as James Gray’s “Two Lovers,” which has taken in a mere 1.9 million dollars in its six weeks in release, has suffered terribly from the backwash of pre- and post-Oscar viewing of nominees. (I doubt that Joaquin Phoenix’s stunts in the guise of promotion and Gwyneth Paltrow’s preoccupation with her website over the movie helped, but even so…) With the Oscars in March, it will be even tougher for new releases to break through early in the year, meaning that calendars will likely be even more crowded in the fall. On the bright side, the extra two weeks might actually give Academy voters a chance to see the movies.

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